Other Key Red Grape Varieties of South American Wine

South American wine earned its global reputation on the backs of three grapes — Malbec, Carménère, and Tannat — but the continent's red variety landscape runs considerably deeper than that trio. Bonarda, Cabernet Franc, Criolla Grande, País, and a handful of others occupy distinct regional niches, each with its own history, character, and expanding critical recognition. Understanding where these grapes grow, why they thrive there, and how they differ from the continent's headliners helps frame a fuller picture of what South American wine actually is.

Definition and scope

The phrase "other key red varieties" covers the red grapes that are commercially significant, regionally distinctive, or historically foundational in South America — but that sit outside the four headline cultivars typically given dedicated coverage. This includes grapes that arrived with Spanish colonizers in the 16th century, varieties that followed the 19th-century European immigration wave, and a small number of newer plantings driven by winemaker curiosity.

The category is not trivial in scale. In Argentina alone, Bonarda (also known as Douce Noire or Charbono in other contexts) covers roughly 18,000 hectares of vineyard, making it the country's second most-planted red grape by area, according to the Instituto Nacional de Vitivinicultura (INV). That figure often surprises people who assume Malbec monopolizes Argentine viticulture — it doesn't, not even close.

País, the ancient mission grape carried into Chile and Peru by Franciscan missionaries, holds a different kind of significance. It was nearly written off as a bulk workhorse, but a reassessment led by producers in Chile's Maule and Itata valleys has repositioned it as a serious variety capable of producing wines of real depth and textural interest. The broader story of South American wine history runs directly through País.

How it works

Each of these varieties expresses itself differently based on altitude, soils, and the particular sub-region where it's planted — the same principles governing every grape on the South American wine climate and terroir spectrum.

A structured breakdown of the principal "other" red varieties:

  1. Bonarda (Argentina) — Produces wines with deep color, low acidity, and soft tannins. Thrives in Mendoza and San Juan. Historically used as a blending grape to add body; now increasingly vinified as a varietal. Its approachability at modest price points makes it a significant commercial export category.

  2. Cabernet Franc (Argentina and Chile) — Performs well at high altitude in Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley, where cooler temperatures preserve its characteristic herbal and red-fruit profile. Argentina's version tends toward riper, more structured expressions than its Loire Valley counterpart. Coverage of Cabernet Sauvignon in South America often addresses Cab Franc as a companion variety.

  3. País (Chile) — Pre-Phylloxera vines, some over 100 years old, grown as bush vines (gobelet-trained) in dry-farmed conditions in Itata, Maule, and Bío-Bío. Produces light-bodied, high-acid wines with dusty tannins. The natural and organic wine movement in Chile has adopted País extensively.

  4. Criolla Grande (Argentina) — A cross of Muscat of Alexandria and an unknown variety, producing light-colored red wines destined primarily for domestic consumption. Rarely exported in significant volumes.

  5. Petit Verdot (Chile and Argentina) — Planted in warmer sites; used primarily as a blending component in high-end Bordeaux-style blends, adding color intensity and violet aromatics.

  6. Syrah (Chile) — The Colchagua Valley and Elqui Valley in Chile produce Syrah with concentrated dark-fruit character and, at higher altitudes, a pronounced peppery quality. Chilean Syrah has drawn favorable comparisons to Northern Rhône expressions in blind tastings.

Common scenarios

The typical encounter with these grapes falls into three patterns. The first is the restaurant list scenario: a South American wine section dominated by Malbec, with one or two Bonardas listed as budget-friendly alternatives — correctly, since Bonarda at the $15–$25 price tier frequently overdelivers relative to its positioning.

The second is the discovery bottle context — someone who has worked through the guide to South American wine styles and wants to understand what lies beyond the standard headliners. País from a producer like Clos des Fous or Louis-Antoine Luyt (both working in Itata and Maule) represents exactly this kind of exploration: old vines, minimal intervention, and a distinctly un-international flavor profile.

The third scenario is blending. In Bordeaux-style red blends produced across Mendoza and the better Chilean valleys, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and even Malbec appear as minority components alongside Cabernet Sauvignon. The South American wine awards and ratings landscape reflects this — top-scoring wines from the continent are as often blends as they are single-variety expressions.

Decision boundaries

Choosing between the headline varieties and these secondary grapes is less about hierarchy and more about what the drinker is after. Bonarda makes sense when the priority is value, approachability, and everyday drinking weight. País makes sense when the goal is something genuinely unusual — textural, food-driven, and suited to the kind of lighter cuisine that heavier Malbec can overpower.

Cabernet Franc and Syrah from South America occupy a different position: they compete directly with European benchmarks and are worth evaluating on those terms. High-altitude Argentine Cabernet Franc in particular, from producers working the high-altitude viticulture zones above 1,000 meters in the Uco Valley, represents one of the continent's most compelling arguments that it can produce world-class reds outside the Malbec conversation entirely.

The full South American wine authority index maps where all of these varieties fit within the broader regional and stylistic structure of the continent's wine production.

References

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